Administrators’ Forum addresses transfer experience and elevator difficulties

Alexis Schlesinger / THE GATEPOST

By Cole Johnson

Staff Writer

SGA held its first Administrators’ Forum of the academic year to raise student concerns to administrators on Nov. 18.

The forum was attended by President Nancy Niemi; Provost Kristen Porter-Utley; Meg Nowak Borrego, vice president of Student Affairs; Robert Totino, vice president of Finance, Technology, and Administration; Iris Godes, vice president of Enrollment Management; Lorretta Holloway, vice president of Student Success; Jeffrey Coleman, vice president of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement; Glenn Cochran, assistant vice president of Student Affairs; Ryan Hacker, associate vice president of Facilities and Capital Projects; Stephanie Crane, director of Residence Life and Housing; Sara Gallegos, executive director of Student Experience and Career Development; Michael Newmark, director of Dining Services; and FSUPD Officer James Devens.

SGA President César Matos opened the forum and said he would be asking from a list of pre-prepared questions provided by both club representatives and senators.

Matos asked if actions were being taken to improve the experience of transfer students regarding the application of transfer credits, citing “extreme difficulty … this past semester across the board.”

SGA Publicist Taylor Royal followed up, saying, “For some incoming students, they might not feel as comfortable to self advocate with their professors and for themselves up to a higher level. So I guess the extreme difficulty is, how can we bridge that gap where they can feel comfortable to go to the people they need to go to?”

Porter-Utley said there were a variety of resources available to students.

“I find that the chair of any of the relevant departments is one of the best touchpoints in terms of talking about transfer and transfer equivalencies,” she said. “They're all super nice people, so you shouldn't be intimidated by that title, and they enjoy having students.”

Porter-Utley also said there were “resources in the Registrar’s Office if people are experiencing frustration with that. … They also assist in ensuring that [students] have transfer credits in place.”

Porter-Utley added if students still weren’t getting their questions answered, they should contact her. “Send me an email. I want to be able to help - I was a transfer student.”

Holloway said she conducts business process analysis of the transfer procedure. “It’s just the process [of] what happens from the deposit to registration.”

SGA Events Coordinator Alix Ayoub said, “I know last year, there was a discussion about making a database of all the transfer credits that can be brought in.” She asked if that was still being implemented.

Godes said there was a platform students could access called Transferology to check for transfer equivalencies between universities.

Matos asked what the plan was for the McCarthy elevator, as it broke down more often this year compared to previous years.

Hacker responded he was “somewhat concerned” about the amount of downtime on the elevator.

“We actually ran into a situation where the service elevator went down as well,” he said. “So there was at one point a period of time where there was no working elevator in this building. That’s not a great situation.

“Our elevator service vendor has maintained very detailed records. … So one of things that I will be doing is an audit of those reports to see if there's anything we can do to be more proactive about some of the issues that come up instead of being reactive,” he said.

He added he asked the service vendor for a list of available parts to more easily replace common parts more susceptible to wear.

He said it would be more efficient to have the parts on hand, “as opposed to having to place an order and then wait for the part to come in, which will add some days, if not weeks, to the downtime of the elevator.

“We hope to have better preventative means of planning moving forward - for the whole campus, not just the McCarthy elevator,” he said.

According to Hacker, one matter that was “out of our control” was the need for state elevator inspections after certain repairs. “We can’t open up the elevator until it’s been given the all-clear.”

For situations in which the elevator in need of inspection was the only elevator in a building, Hacker said he could advocate for the urgency of the matter. “The head inspector’s getting a call, and we’re saying, ‘This is critical,’” he said.

Matos asked if there was a way to bridge the gap between resident and commuter student experiences.

“In terms of the different spaces that exist on campus … it feels like a lot of services are tailored for the resident students,” he said.

Niemi said, “I long for the day … that there's really as little difference as possible, certainly between commuter students and resident students.”

Both Niemi and Gallegos said The Gatepost Editorial from Oct. 3 drew their attention.

Gallegos said, “Commuter programs have just been handed over to me this semester, so it's slow-going.”

For the Student Lounge and Game Room in the McCarthy Center, Gallegos said, “We will look at trying to update [them] within our means to make them a little bit more cozy and social.”

She added, “We will be doing the commuter survey hopefully by the end of this semester, so that we'll get some more insight.”

Niemi said the survey would be important for gauging commuter opinions. “It might be that people who live [in] one place and come here for classes might simply not want the same things that resident students have.”

Holloway agreed. “It's not just resident students versus commuter students. It's different demographics of resident students and commuter students.”

Nowak Borrego said, “I was asked by our VP for finance, who's coordinating the Campus Master Plan, if the student government would be willing to have a special opportunity to give feedback on the plan.

“We're seeing you as our first presentation group. … They're presenting [ideas] to us and smaller subsets of more engaged students, and then they will make some changes from those, and then we'll put the final ones out within the spring semester,” she said.

Olivia Ostrander, who was sworn in as a senator later during the SGA meeting, said, “I notice that a lot of students here do go home on the weekends. I’m wondering if there's anything for students that maybe live a little bit too far to be able to go home on weekends?”

Crane responded, “We have weekend numbers for the resident students every week. … Of the resident students, 73% of the population actually are here on weekends.

“We asked some questions on our resident survey, which we did last spring, and [we’re] just trying to assess and look at that and figure out how we can best provide that support, because we do hear that a lot,” she added. “Keeping us informed of what you're interested in is huge.”

Crane said she was also considering hiring a student intern to help restore the Residence Life social media. “Our Instagram needs a facelift,” she said.

Kira James, president of Framingham State Activities Board, asked Devens if he could prioritize installing cameras on the fourth floor of the McCarthy Center.

“My club has had a lot of issues with people coming to our office and taking things from our office, and it's very unfair to the students who have been [losing] these items,” she said. “And it's very ‘un-fun’ to have to order all these things, and use more money that should go to other events that we're having.”

Devens said installing cameras was a long and “very involved” process, but “we’re always open to talking.”

Following the forum, SGA held a short meeting, starting by unanimously appointing two new senators: Luke Coutu and Olivia Ostrander.

Afterward, Royal said volunteers were needed for this year’s SGA Benevolence Awards, both for the Nomination Committee and to help with organizing and running the event.

Royal said Nomination Committee members would not be eligible to receive awards, but host volunteers would.

The ceremony will be hosted in the McCarthy Center Forum on April 15, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Royal presented the U-Rock to Jobe Murphy, recognizing him for his “initiative with working closely with Nate [Piette] for the Safety and Security ad hoc.”

“Without the both of you, the Safety and Security Walk would not have been as successful as it was, and especially with your initiative to take into account the food insecurity on campus, how we can address it, how we can [continue] to be a beacon of hope within all of these committees and push people to do better,” she said.

Matos presented the U-Rock Ram to Ayoub.